What Has Science Done For Your Life Lately?

Plenty. If you think science doesnt matter much to you, think again. Science affects us all, each day of the year, from the moment we wake up, all day long, and through the night. Your digital alarm clock, the w run throughher report, the asphalt you drive on, the bus you ride in, your decision to eat a baked potato instead of fries, your cell phone, the antibiotics that treat your sore throat, the clean water that comes from your faucet, and the light that you turn off at the end of the day save all been brought to you courtesy of science. The modern world would not be modern at all without the understandings and technology enabled by science. To make it clear how profoundly science is interwoven with our lives, just try imagining a day without scientific progress. Just for starters, without modern science, there would beo way to use electricity. From Ben Franklins studies of atmospheric static and lightning in the 1700s, to Alessandro Voltas first battery, to the key discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism, science has steadily built up our understanding of electricity, which today carries our voices over telephony lines, brings entertainment to our televisions, and keeps the lights on.No plastic. The first completely synthetic plastic was made by a chemist in the early 1900s, and since then, chemistry has developed a unsubtle variety of plastics suited for all sorts of jobs, from blocking bullets to making slicker dental floss.No modern agriculture. Science has transformed the way we eat today. In the 1940s, biologists began developing high-yield varieties of corn, wheat, and rice, which, when diametrical with new fertilizers and pesticides developed by chemists, dramatically increased the amount of food that could be harvested from a single field, ushering in the Green Revolution. These science-based technologies triggered striking changes in agriculture, massively increasing the amount of food available to feed the world and s imultaneously transforming the economic structure of agricultural practices.No modern medicine. In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner first convincingly showed that vaccination worked. In the 1800s, scientists and doctors established the theory that many diseases are caused by germs. And in the 1920s, a biologist discovered the first antibiotic. From the eradication of smallpox, to the prevention of nutritionary deficiencies, to successful treatments for once deadly infections, the impact of modern medicine on global health has been powerful. In fact, without science, many people alive today would have instead died of diseases that are now easily treated.Scientific knowledge can improve the quality of life at many different levels from the routine workings of our cursory lives to global issues. Science informs public policy and personal decisions on energy, conservation, agriculture, health, transportation, communication, defense, economics, leisure, and exploration. Its almost imposs ible to overstate how many aspects of modern life are impacted by scientific knowledge. Here well discuss just a few of these examples. You can investigateFueling technologyMaking strides in medicineGetting personalShaping society